TRIGGER WARNING!
This website contains poetry and true stories about trauma, personality disorders, suicidal thoughts, self-harming, depression and other significant mental health issues, as well as personal stories of emotional neglect and physical and sexual abuse, which some people might find disturbing.
Poetry for Mental Health
Supporting people with mental health challenges by motivating and inspiring them to write poetry.
Poetry for Mental Health has supported thousands of people around the world through words and poetry!
"No matter what your age, background and experience, culture or identity; whether an established writer with many published titles to your credit, or an aspiring poet who has never written a word of poetry in your life, our philosophy here is to embrace, welcome and support everyone, everywhere suffering from mental health challenges, and help you cope through words and poetry."
About ...
"I formed
Poetry for Mental Health at the outbreak of COVID, as a way of helping people cope mentally through lockdown and the pandemic by inspiring them to write poetry. Six years, seven books (just started working on our eighth), many hundreds of poets, and many thousands of pieces of poetry later,
Poetry for Mental Health
is still inspiring people to write poetry for positive mental health! And with around 1600 visitors each and every month, it
is now probably the largest and most visited website of its kind on the net!"
ROBIN BARRATT - Founder POETRY FOR MENTAL HEALTH
CONTRIBUTE TO OUR NEXT ANTHOLOGY ...
Working cover only
You can now contribute to the next title in our acclaimed mental health book series:
PTSD - Post-traumatic Stress Disorder: A collection of interviews, personal stories, poetry and short prose from around the world on the subject of PTSD.
Deadline 31st March 2026, publication date: SPRING 2026.
SUBMISSIONS TO THIS TITLE ARE NOW OPEN!
Click on the link below for further details and submission guidelines.
NEW - This Week's Featured Poetry (x4)
Week commencing Monday 26th January, 2026
FALLING
By Mike Whiting
I feel like I’m falling
I feel like I’m failing
I feel like
if I felt like falling
I’d fail to fall
but if I fell
would that be a fail as well?
it’s hard to tell
a fear of failure
feels as real as hell
but I try to recall
the thoughts
of when I was small
failing to fall
isn’t failing at all
WAITING TO FALL
By Camila Rogers
Walking on a tightrope,
Waiting to fall.
Balance and sway—
Trying to stand tall.
I wanted it all,
I felt invincible.
Treading on eggshells,
Awaiting the crack.
My energy’s higher,
There’s no going back.
I wanted it all,
I felt invincible.
The waves start to crash,
Storms are not calm.
Spending, oversharing,
Risking the harm.
I wanted it all,
I felt invincible.
Walking the tightrope,
Waiting to fall.
Sooner or later,
It was inevitable.
I fell down—
Asleep or awake.
I wanted it all,
All was not mine to take.
Reality hits:
How much damage is done?
I wanted it all,
Now I curl up small,
Lost forevermore.
ABOUT THE POEM: "Living with bipolar type 2, I have written this poem whilst enjoying the highs of hypomania but waiting for the inevitable crash that it usually brings."
SHADOWS
By Dr. Archan Mehta
We are shadows lurking in the night,
And we are shadows fading by the light,
Yes, even on a bright and sunny morning:
We are flickering pictures on the silver screen,
And, despite that, we still dare to dream.
We dream of places with an unknown origin,
We dream of paradise because our reality is ugly,
We dream about beauty to rescue us and as
An escape from phantoms and deep and dark
Tunnels and space: we know we won’t be
Around tomorrow and, yet, we somehow
Continue to live in this surreal jungle we
Have termed life: who knows our fate because
The end is not within our grasp or sight. We
Are timid souls basking in the glow of twilight,
We are mere pawns in this game, shadows in the night.
GRAY IS SOMEONE’S SUNSHINE
By Roger Singer
pulling out
of the moment,
rising into day
as the stranger within
begins to separate
the layers
from yesterday’s debris
and the blur
of ambiguity,
as an internal
sound becomes words
reminding us
that tears confirm
were alive
Lots more Featured Poetry here:
Our Books
Personal Journeys
In their own words, writers and poets write about their own personal journey with mental health.
Interviews
Nine amazing writers and poets about their journey with mental health.
Featured Poets
Featuring almost 80 poets around the world, with up to six pieces of their work, and a little about the author and the stories behind their work.
Featured Books
Promoting poetry books and publications.
Articles
Articles about poetry and positive mental health.
Publishing Services
We publish books for other people too!!!
Would you like to see your poetry collection published as a paperback and Kindle, and available for other people to read around the world? Prices start from just £150.00 for a chapbook / short collection. Click on the link for more info. Plus Promoting Your Book- information and advice for promoting and marketing your book. We have published over 100 books for other people. Just a few examples below:
Other ...
Directory of Support Services
Charities, groups and organisations worldwide offering mental health help and support to people in crisis.
Mental Health First Aid
Identifying warning signs of common mental health crisis, and how to guide a person towards safety and appropriate help. More info ...
Newsletters ...
NEW - Newsletters ONLINE
What's new at Poetry for Mental Health. Our monthly newsletters are now available to read online.
Send us your name and email address and we'll keep you updated with our news and calls for submissions. We'll never send you more than one email a month, or pass your details onto anyone else ... ever!
PLEASE DONATE
ALL donations go towards promoting and publishing poetry for mental health. Click on the button below for donation options or contact us to sponsor this platform. Thank you!
NOTE ON CONTRIBUTIONS: We publish mental health poetry from around the world, and for a number contributors to this website, English is not their first language. Unlike some other platforms, we don't heavily edit a poet's own work (if we did, it would then not be their own work!), so please focus on a poet's messages and meanings, and not necessarily on any grammatical mistakes or translated imperfections that may arise within their contribution.